Two developments that will help fill the housing needs of homeless veterans and working families are set to open in Jackson County, Ore.
Freedom Square is located in White City, in close proximity to the Veteran Affairs Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center and Clinics (VASORCC), and will provide 34 units of housing. Through the use of Department of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers, it will offer 18 units of one-bedroom apartments to homeless veterans and two units of two-bedroom housing to veterans with families. The veterans who will live at Freedom Square either are currently homeless and receiving outpatient services from VASORCC or are living in the center’s transitional housing and ready to shift to independent living. The remaining 16 units will have below market rents targeted to workforce households.
Liberty Place is located in Central Point and features 16 units of affordable housing for workforce households. The development will serve working families near many manufacturing and mill jobs.
The sponsor of both developments is the Housing Authority of Jackson County, which partnered with VASORCC on Freedom Square. The development costs for the two projects add up to about $9 million.
KeyBank provided about $7.8 million in low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) equity to the developments. The projects received the housing credits from Oregon Housing and Community Services. In addition to the LIHTC investment, KeyBank provided a $6.4 million loan to finance the construction of both properties. The Network for Oregon Affordable Housing is the permanent lender.
“We are extremely excited for the official opening of Freedom Square and Liberty Place,” said James Poznik, national lending and investing manager with Key Community Development Banking, in a statement. “The properties will have a lasting effect on some of Jackson County’s highest priority populations: vulnerable homeless veterans and a growing number of low-income workforce families.”
